Electronic apparatus having illuminated key tops

ABSTRACT

An electronic apparatus having key tops that can be illuminated without cooling performance being affected is described. The electronic apparatus includes: a chassis and a keyboard device having a set of key tops; a base plate for supporting the key tops; a membrane sheet laminated on a top surface side of the base plate; a light guide plate laminated on a bottom surface side of the base plate; and a light source module for irradiating the key tops with light via the light guide plate. The keyboard device, which is located on a top surface side of the chassis, includes an inlet port for passing air in a top-bottom direction and a set of individual light sources arranged respectively on bottom surface sides of a part of the key tops that is located to overlap the inlet port.

PRIORITY CLAIM

The present application claims benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §§ 120, 365 to the previously filed Japanese Patent Application No. JP2020-002247 with a priority date of Jan. 9, 2020, which is incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to electronic apparatuses in general, and in particular to an electronic apparatus having illuminated key tops.

BACKGROUND

An electronic apparatus, such as a laptop personal computer (laptop PC), may be equipped with a keyboard device in which key tops can be illuminated by an LED light source. The illumination can be achieved by arranging LED light sources respectively under all the key tops, which, however, increases component cost. Thus, in some laptop PCs, the keyboard device is provided with a light guide plate. Guiding light from the light source by the light guide plate allows all the key tops to be illuminated by a small number of light sources.

In a laptop PC described above, an inlet port penetrating the keyboard device from top to bottom may be provided to improve cooling efficiency in an apparatus chassis. The inlet port then penetrates a part of the light guide plate. This causes the light guide plate to be unable to guide the light in the part of the penetrating inlet port and thus unable to illuminate the key tops at such locations.

Consequently, it would be desirable to provide an electronic apparatus in which the key tops can be illuminated while a cooling function is also in place.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic apparatus includes: a chassis and a keyboard device having a set of key tops; a base plate for supporting the key tops; a membrane sheet laminated on a top surface side of the base plate; a light guide plate laminated on a bottom surface side of the base plate; and a light source module for irradiating the key tops with light via the light guide plate. The keyboard device, which is located on a top surface side of the chassis, includes an inlet port for passing air in a top-bottom direction and a set of individual light sources arranged respectively on bottom surface sides of a part of the key tops that is located to overlap the inlet port.

The above-mentioned configuration ensures high cooling performance to be achieved by the inlet port establishing communication in the top-bottom direction in the keyboard device. The individual light sources arranged respectively on the bottom surface sides of the key tops where the light guide plate is made missing due to the inlet port, which allows the electronic apparatus with the partially missing light guide plate to still illuminate all the key tops that require illumination by means of the light guide plate and the individual light sources.

All features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed written description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention itself, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects, and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an electronic apparatus, according to one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view illustrating a principle part of an internal structure of an apparatus chassis;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of a keyboard device;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a key switch provided with an individual light source, a key top thereof having been removed;

FIG. 5A is a side cross-sectional view illustrating the key switch illuminated using an individual light source and a peripheral part thereof;

FIG. 5B is a side cross-sectional view illustrating the key switch illuminated using a light guide plate and a peripheral part thereof; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a part of the keyboard device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an electronic apparatus 10, according to an embodiment.

The electronic apparatus 10 includes an apparatus chassis 14 on which a keyboard device 12 is mounted and a display chassis 18 on which a display 16 is mounted. The electronic apparatus 10 is a laptop PC of a clamshell type in which the apparatus chassis 14 and the display chassis 18 are pivotally connected to each other by a hinge 20. FIG. 1 shows that the display chassis 18 has been opened from the apparatus chassis 14 into a usage form. The electronic apparatus 10 may be an electronic apparatus other than the one of the clamshell type.

In the following description of the apparatus chassis 14 and the keyboard device 12 mounted thereon, with respect to a user looking at the display 16 and using the keyboard device 12, a near side is referred to as “front,” a far side as “rear,” a thickness direction as “top-bottom,” and a width direction as “left-right.”

An electronic substrate 21 and a fan device 22 are housed in the apparatus chassis 14.

The electronic substrate 21 is a motherboard of the electronic apparatus 10, and a central processing unit (CPU) 21 a and various semiconductor chips are mounted thereon. The fan device 22 is a blower fan for cooling the CPU 21 a and others. Further housed in the apparatus chassis 14 are a hard disk device, a battery device and the like which are not illustrated.

The keyboard device 12 is provided on a top surface 14 a of the apparatus chassis 14.

The keyboard device 12 has a plurality of key switches 24. The keyboard device 12 is of an isolation type in which peripheries of key tops 24 a, which serve as operation surfaces of the key switches 24, are partitioned by a frame (isolation frame) 26.

The frame 26 is formed of resin, metal, or the like. The frame 26 is a mesh-like frame body. The frame 26 in this embodiment is integrally molded with a cover member 27 forming the top surface 14 a of the apparatus chassis 14. The frame 26 may alternatively be formed separately from the cover member 27. The frame 26 has a plurality of holes 26 a into which the key tops 24 a are respectively inserted to be movable in a top-bottom direction. The holes 26 a of the frame 26 are configured by a lateral frame portion 26 b extending in a left-right direction and a vertical frame portion 26 c extending in a front-rear direction.

The display chassis 18 has a display 16 on a front side thereof. The display 16 is, for example, a liquid crystal display. A bottom end of the display chassis 18 is connected to a rear end of the apparatus chassis 14 via a hinge 20.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a principle part of an internal structure of the apparatus chassis 14. FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the keyboard device 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the apparatus chassis 14 houses the electronic substrate 21 and the fan device 22 between an inner surface 28 a of a bottom plate 28 and a bottom surface 12 a of the keyboard device 12. The bottom plate 28 is provided with a bottom inlet port 28 b in a position directly under the fan device 22. The bottom inlet port 28 b is an opening for introducing air A from the bottom into the apparatus chassis 14 and is made up of a set of parallel slit-like holes, for example.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the keyboard device 12 includes the plurality of key switches 24, a base plate 30, a membrane sheet 31 and a light guide plate 32.

Each of the key switches 24 has a key top 24 a, a guide mechanism 24 b and a rubber dome 24 c. The guide mechanism 24 b supports the key top 24 a on atop surface 30 a side of the base plate 30 in a movable manner in the top-bottom direction. The guide mechanism 24 b is a scissor mechanism connecting a bottom surface of the key top 24 a and the top surface 30 a of the base plate 30. The rubber dome 24 c is a dome-shaped member made of an elastic material having flexibility such as silicone rubber. The rubber dome 24 c is disposed between the membrane sheet 31 and the key top 24 a. The rubber dome 24 c is an elastic member that pushes the membrane sheet 31 when the key top 24 a is pressed down and returns the key top 24 a to its original position when the press-down operation is released.

The base plate 30 is an attachment plate for the key switches 24 and the frame 26. The base plate 30 is a plate member made of thin metal such as stainless, aluminum or others provided with some cut-and-raised portions and punched portions.

The membrane sheet 31 is laminated on the top surface 30 a of the base plate 30. The membrane sheet 31 is, for example, a switch sheet of three-layer structure in which contacts thereof are closed when pushed. In the membrane sheet 31, the contacts are closed by, for example, being pressed at a position where a fixed contact and a movable contact overlap each other so that the movable contact is brought into contact with the fixed contact. The membrane sheet 31 has through holes in various locations thereof through which the guide mechanism 24 b and the frame 26 are supported on the top surface 30 a of the base plate 30.

The light guide plate 32 is laminated on the bottom surface 30 b of the base plate 30. The light guide plate 32 is a plate or a sheet made of light transmissive resin such as PET, polycarbonate, acryl, or the like. A light source module 34 is attached to the light guide plate 32 (see FIG. 3). The light source module 34 is for illuminating the key tops 24 a. In an example, the light source module 34 is attached to the light guide plate 32 at a central part thereof in the left-right direction and includes a plurality of light sources 34 a arranged in the front-rear direction. The light source module 34 may be connected to the electronic substrate 21 via wiring 34 b formed by a flexible substrate. The respective light sources 34 a may be LED elements. Light emitted from the light sources 34 a is guided by the light guide plate 32 in the left-right direction so that the key tops 24 a are irradiated therewith from backsides. In the keyboard device 12 of this embodiment, six rows of the key tops 24 a are arranged in the front-rear direction (see FIG. 1). Six light sources 34 a are arranged in the front-rear direction to be respectively overlapped by the rows of the key tops.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the keyboard device 12 is fixed to the frame 26 by a plurality of screws 36 fastened from the bottom surface 12 a toward the top surface. A reference code 31 b in FIG. 3 indicates a wiring formed by a flexible substrate or the like for connecting the membrane sheet 31 to the electronic substrate 21.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the keyboard device 12 is provided with inlet ports 38 penetrated in the top-bottom direction. Each inlet port 38 is an opening for passing air A in the keyboard device 12 in the top-bottom direction. The inlet port 38 is configured by a gap between adjacent key tops 24 a and 24 a, a hole 31 a formed in the membrane sheet 31, a hole 30 c formed in the base plate 30 and a hole 32 a formed in the light guide plate 32 communicating with each other in this order from top to bottom.

There are no specific limitations to the position and number of the inlet port 38 to be provided. It is, however, preferable that the inlet port 38 is formed in a position directly above the fan device 22. In other words, the fan device 22 in this embodiment is configured to take in outside air from air intake ports formed respectively in a top surface and a bottom surface of a fan chassis by rotating blades (an impeller) and discharge the air from a side surface, just like a fan device used in a common laptop PC. Providing the inlet port 38 directly above the fan device 22 thus allows a smooth intake of the air A above the keyboard device 12.

If, on the other hand, the inlet port 38 is provided in a position other than directly above the fan device 22 (for example, in a position where the user's hand is placed for a long time during use of the keyboard device 12 such as a vicinity of an S key or a K key), the top surface of the keyboard device 12 is suppressed from becoming so hot as to cause discomfort to the user. The inlet port 38 may be provided directly above a semiconductor chip that becomes hot among those mounted on the electronic substrate 21 except the CPU 21 a. For example, the inlet port may be provided directly above a solid-state drive (SSD) or the like. It is to be noted that the inlet port 38 must not disturb the functions of the light source module 34 and thus must be arranged off the light source module 34.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the light emitted by the light sources 34 a arranged in the front-rear direction are guided by the light guide plate 32 in the left-right direction (see the light L indicated by dashed-dotted lines in FIG. 3) to illuminate the key tops 24 a. That is, in a plan view, the light L is guided across the vertical frame portions 26 c of the frame 26 and illuminates the respective key tops 24 a from the bottom.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the hole 32 a forming the inlet port 38 (the inlet port 38) is provided in a part of the light guide plate 32 in this embodiment. This hole 32 a thus prevents some light L1, L2 from being guided when the light L is emitted by the respective light source 34 a and guided by the light guide plate 32. As a result, the key tops 24 a of the key switches 24 that are located to overlap the hole 32 a and that are located downstream of the hole 32 a in the light guiding direction of the light L are not illuminated or illuminated with only a small amount of light, which lowers the quality of the keyboard device 12. Thus, in the electronic apparatus 10, as illustrated in FIG. 3, individual light sources 40 are respectively provided to the key switches 24 located to overlap the hole 32 a.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the key switch 24 provided with the individual light source 40, the key top 24 a thereof having been removed. FIG. 5A is a side cross-sectional view illustrating the key switch 24 illuminated using the individual light source 40 and a peripheral part thereof. FIG. 5B is aside cross-sectional view illustrating the key switch 24 illuminated using the light guide plate 32 and a peripheral part thereof. FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a part of the keyboard device 12.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5A, the individual light source 40 is mounted on the top surface 31 b of the membrane sheet 31 directly under the key top 24 a. The individual light source 40 is an LED element, for example. The individual light source 40 is provided directly under the key switch 24 located to overlap the hole 32 a (see FIGS. 2, 5A and 6). As illustrated in FIG. 5A, light L3 emitted by the individual light source 40 is transmitted to the top surface side of the key top 24 a via a light transmissive part 24 d provided in the key top 24 a. The light transmissive part 24 d is a transparent or translucent resin plate portion provided in a part of the key top 24 a. The light transmissive part 24 d is, for example, that part of the key top 24 a which is formed on a surface thereof as a letter such as an alphabet or a symbol (see FIG. 6).

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the individual light sources 40 are provided to the key switches 24 at least a part of the key tops 24 a thereof overlaps the hole 32 a. In this embodiment, the individual light sources 40 are provided to the key switches 24 at least a part of the light transmissive parts 24 d thereof overlaps the hole 32 a. Specifically, in the configuration example illustrated in FIG. 6, the key tops 24 a with the letters O, P and L as well as the symbol + are illuminated with the light L3 from the individual light sources 40.

Meanwhile, in the configuration example illustrated in FIG. 6, the letter K, which is located outside the hole 32 a, is illuminated with the light L from the light guide plate 32. As illustrated in FIG. 5B, the key top 24 a illuminated by the light guide plate 32 is irradiated with the light L from the light guide plate 32 through the holes 31 c and 30 d of the membrane sheet 31 and the base plate 30 provided directly thereunder. Like the light L3 from the individual light source 40, the light L is transmitted to the top surface side of the key top 24 a via the light transmissive part 24 d of the key top 24 a.

A wiring structure of the individual light sources 40 is now described. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a wiring 42 a or 42 b is connected to the individual light sources 40. These wirings 42 a and 42 b are put together in a wiring 42 formed by a flexible substrate or the like and connected to the wiring 34 b of the light source module 34 in the midstream thereof to be integral with the wiring 34 b and eventually connected to the electronic substrate 21. All the individual light sources 40 may be connected to the wiring 34 b by only one wiring 42 a, or the individual light sources 40 may be connected to the wiring 34 b respectively using wirings 42 a.

The individual light sources 40 are thus connected to the electronic substrate 21 via the wiring 34 b of the light source module 34. This causes the individual light sources 40 to emit light synchronously with other light sources 34 a of the light source module 34. As a result, irrespective of whether the illumination is performed using the light guide plate 32 or the individual light sources 40, all the key tops 24 a of the keyboard device 12 are illuminated at the same time in response to a predetermined ON-operation.

Suppose the individual light sources 40 are connected to the electronic substrate 21 not via the wiring 34 b but using another dedicated wiring, the wiring 31 b of the membrane sheet 31 or the like. Then, in order for the individual light sources 40 to emit light synchronously with the light sources 34 a of the light source module 34, a special control program, for example, would be necessary for the CPU 21 a or the like to cause the light source module 34 and the individual light sources 40 to synchronously emit light. This results in a complicated control system. Also, since the wirings 42 a and 42 b of the individual light sources 40 are connected to the electronic substrate 21 in this configuration, the number of connector pins provided on the electronic substrate 21 needs to be changed depending on whether or not the individual light sources 40 are present. This would mean that the configuration of the electronic substrate 21 also needs to be changed depending on whether or not the inlet port 38 is present, which makes it difficult to allow common use of components, thereby increasing component cost.

The electronic apparatus 10, on the other hand, does not use such a special control technique as above. It simply puts the wirings of the individual light sources 40 and the light source module 34 together and still allows all the key tops 24 a to be illuminated at the same time. Moreover, connecting the wirings 42 a and 42 b from the individual light sources 40 to the electronic substrate 21 via the wiring 34 b from the light source module 34 allows the electronic substrate 21 to be shared irrespective of presence or absence of the inlet port 38. This expedites common use of components and thus can reduce component cost.

If, for example, the number of components and the cost do not matter, the individual light sources 40 may be connected to the electronic substrate 21 directly via the wirings 42 a and 42 b. It is then preferable that a control unit such as the CPU 21 a mounted on the electronic apparatus 10 controls the light source 34 a of the light source module 34 and the individual light sources 40 to synchronously emit light.

As described above, in the electronic apparatus 10 of this embodiment, the keyboard device 12 including the light guide plate 32 has the inlet port 38 for passing air in the top-bottom direction. Moreover, the electronic apparatus 10 includes the individual light sources 40 provided on the bottom surface sides of those key tops 24 a that are located to overlap the inlet port 38. This allows all the key tops 24 a that require illumination to be illuminated by the light guide plate 32 and the individual light sources 40 even in a part where the light guide plate 32 is made missing due to the inlet port 38.

The electronic apparatus 10 also ensures high cooling performance to be achieved by the inlet port 38 establishing communication in the top-bottom direction in the keyboard device 12. Furthermore, all the key tops 24 a that require illumination can be synchronously illuminated by means of the light guide plate 32 and the individual light sources 40. The electronic apparatus 10 uses the individual light sources 40 to illuminate only a part of the key tops 24 a. This can significantly reduce production cost compared to the configuration in which all the key tops 24 a are respectively provided with the individual light sources for illumination.

In the electronic apparatus 10, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 6, the inlet port 38 is sized to have such an opening area that covers a range overlapping at least partially two or more key tops 24 a that are adjacent to left and right (for example, the O and P keys and the L and + keys in FIG. 6). At the same time, the inlet port 38 is sized to have such an opening area that covers a range overlapping at least partially two or more key tops 24 a that are adjacent to front and rear (for example, the O and L keys and the P and + keys in FIG. 6). This allows the inlet port 38 to ensure a large opening area and thus a large inlet quantity, while surely illuminating the key tops 24 a located to overlap therewith by the individual light sources 40.

The present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiment, and modifications can be freely made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In the above description, the frame 26 is integrally molded with the cover member 27, and the keyboard device 12 is fixed to the frame 26 from the bottom. The electronic apparatus 10, however, may alternatively be provided with a shallow recessed portion on the top surface 14 a of the cover member 27, and the keyboard device 12 may be fixed to the recessed portion from above. In that case, the inlet port 38 may also be configured by a hole like the hole 32 a that is provided in the lower surface of the recessed portion of the cover member 27.

As has been described, the present invention provides an electronic apparatus in which the key tops can be illuminated while a cooling function is also in place.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic apparatus comprising: a chassis; and a keyboard device, within said chassis, includes a plurality of key switches, wherein a first one of said key switches includes a key top embedded with a light transmissive part; a base plate for supporting said plurality of key switches; a membrane sheet located on a top surface of said base plate; a light guide plate located on a bottom surface of said base plate; a light source module for irradiating said light guide plate with light to provide light from said light guide plate to said light transmissive part in said key top of said first key switch via an opening in said base plate and an opening in said membrane sheet; and an individual light source located on a top surface of said membrane sheet to provide light to a light transmissive part embedded in a key top of a second one of said plurality of key switches.
 2. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein said opening in said base plate is concentric said opening in said membrane sheet.
 3. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein said light guide plate is absent in an area directly under said second key switch.
 4. The electronic apparatus of claim 3, wherein an inlet port for passing air in a top-bottom direction of said keyboard device is located in said area directly under said second key switch.
 5. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein said individual light sources emits light synchronously with said light source module.
 6. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first key switch further includes a guide mechanism and a rubber dome.
 7. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein said second key switch further includes a guide mechanism and a rubber dome.
 8. The electronic apparatus of claim 7, wherein said individual light source is located adjacent to said rubber dome.
 9. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said base plate and said membrane sheet includes a second concentric opening within an area under said key top of said first key switch.
 10. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of said base plate and said membrane sheet includes an opening within an area under said key top of said second key switch. 